A portable application does not leave its files or settings on the host computer. Typically this means that the application does not write to the Windows registry and instead stores its settings in one or more configuration files (e.g. an INI file) located in its directory. While some applications have options to support this behaviour, many programs are not designed to do this. A common technique for such programs is the use of a launcher program to copy necessary settings and files to the host computer when the application starts and move them back to the application's directory when it closes.

An alternative strategy for achieving application portability within Windows, without requiring application source code changes, is application virtualization: An application is "sequenced" or "packaged" against a runtime layer that transparently intercepts its file system and registry calls, then redirects these to other persistent storage without the application's knowledge. This approach leaves the application itself unchanged, yet portable.

The run-time layer can be embedded into an application on-the-fly by injecting a dynamic library into a third party process to create individual per application wrapper. The wrapper is activated at the application startup and hooks/redirects file- and registry-related system calls to operate with portable (ex: flash) storage space only.

The same approach is used for individual application components: run-time libraries, COM components or ActiveX, not only for the entire application. As a result, when individual components are ported in such manner they are able to be: integrated into original portable applications, repeatedly instantiated (virtually installed) with different configurations/settings on the same operating system (OS) without mutual conflicts. As the ported components do not affect the OS-protected related entities (registry and files), the components will not require administrative privileges for installation and management.

Microsoft saw the need for an application-specific registry for its Windows operating system as far back as 2005. It eventually incorporated some of this technology, using the techniques mentioned above, via its Application Compatibility Database using its Detours code library, into the XP version of Windows. It did not, however, make any of this technology available via one of its system APIs.

Portable software is a class of software that is suitable for use on portable drives such as a USB (thumb) drive or digital audio player or PDA with "drive mode", although any external hard drive can be used. The concept of carrying one's favored applications, utilities, and files on a portable drive for use on any computer is one which has evolved considerably in recent years.

Programs in this category (also known as portable applications) are typically 'lite' versions of their parent software, but there are many exceptions.

To be considered portable, for purpose of this list, a software program must:

Not require any kind of formal installation onto a computer's permanent storage device to be executed, and can be stored on a removable storage device such as USB flash drive, enabling it to be used on multiple computers.

Settings are stored with, and can be carried around with, the software (i.e., they are written to the USB drive). If the registry is used to store settings, the application's configuration isn't portable, and must be set up on every PC it is used on Leaves a zero (or near-zero) "footprint" on any PC it's run on after being used. i.e., All temporary files/registry settings should be removed once the program has exited, and files created by the user can be saved directly to the same removable media as the application is stored on.

Generally, smaller utility/toolkit software is inherently fairly portable; though larger applications are sometimes changed in order to allow a portable versions to be released (e.g., Opera@USB and OperaTor).

Sunday, November 29, 2009

A portable application (portable app) is a computer software program that is able to run independently without the need to install files to the system it is run upon. They are commonly used on a removable storage device such as a CD, USB flash drive, flash card, or floppy disk. Portable apps should not be confused with software portability where software allows its source code to be compiled for different computing platforms. Portable applications can be run on any computer system with which they are compatible but typically require a specific operating system such as Microsoft Windows XP or above, certain version of a Linux distro, etc.

Portable software is typically designed to be able to store its configuration information and data on the storage media containing its program files.

To certain operating systems such as AmigaOS, the concept of portable application has no use at all because all applications are portable by definition. Depending on the operating system, portability is more or less complex to implement.

HWM BlackBox is a utility designed to deliver precise details on the core components of your computer to the maximum. As well as providing you with you with in-depth information about hardware such as the processor, memory modules, mainboard, hard drives and video card, it also offers the opportunity to assess critical parameters such as clock speeds and temperatures. HWM BlackBox also presents Vista – compatible tools to test your computer's performance under Microsoft Windows Vista.

RealTemp is a temperature monitoring program designed for all Intel single Core, dual Core and quad Core processors. Each core on these processors has a digital thermal sensor (DTS) that reports temperature data relative to TjMax which is the safe maximum operating core temperature for the CPU. As your CPU heats up, your Distance to TjMax will decrease. If it reaches zero your processor will start to throttle or slow down so obviously maximizing your distance away from TjMax will help your computer to run at full speed and more reliably too.

TMonitor is aimed to display the active clock of each individual core of Intel Core 2 and Core i3/i5/i7 processors.

A very high refresh rate (20 times per second) allows to visualize the smallest clock variation in real time. TMonitor is able to detect mechanism such as Intel Turbo boost, and therefore allows to clearly visualize its effect as the processor is working.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Computers have become a very common thing in the present age. Today, even a small shop will have a computer wherein the shopkeeper will enter all accounting entries and maintain stock of his goods. Bigger business houses cannot survive without the computer. They use it to store loads of data and information. A computer has an internal hard drive wherein all the data is stored.

An external hard drive is a hard drive that is separate from the computer system and saves data of the computer. A hard drive is essential for any computer to store the operating system, software and loads of data. Generally, there is an internal drive but these days, external drives are also required.

There are lots of security threats to the computer

from different viruses. Hence it is wise to save all your important data on the external hard drive so that in case the internal hard drive is corrupted by viruses, data stored on the external hard drive acts as a backup.

All the important and confidential data should be stored on an external drive. The external hard drive is a small piece of equipment other than th

e main computer and can be connected to the computer with the help of a cable. This cable enables the computer to take data from the external drive through interfaces like USB and FireWire.

The external hard drive is used to save sensitive and confidential information, songs and movies, photographs and other data. It can be easily carried and can be connected to the computer by plugging it into the USB port.

Hard drives can be found in two formats, namely SATA (Serial Advanced Technology) which is fast and IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics). SATA drives are very fast as compared to IDE hard drives.

The external hard drive consists of the following

1.) Platters

2.) Spindles

3.) Spindle Motor

4.) Read/Write Head

5.) Head Actuator

The Platters in the external hard drive store all the data. They are made of either glass or ceramic. With more platters on an external drive, more data can be stored on it. The Spindles Motor that is set in the Spindle spins the Platter while the Read/Write Head does the work of reading and writing data to the Platter. Every platter has a read/write head. All these heads are attached to a single Head Actuator.

Apart from acting as a backup to store office data, the external hard drive can be used to store data that requires a lot of space. One can store songs in it. People even save movies on it and view them later in their free time. They do not need to carry CDs with them. They can easily store these small external hard drives in their bags and use them whenever required by just plugging them into their computer or laptops. While working in the office, at times, you may have to deal with very sensitive and confidential information. Such data can be stored on your external drive rather than on the computer to secure secrecy. In this manner, the external hard drive has become a very handy tool to save loads of data and information.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Computers have become a necessity in today’s times. People maintain their complete accounts on the computer rather than manually maintaining them in books. People from the advertising world use different software to create beautiful animated advertisements and videos. Teenagers download songs and movies and watch them on their computers or laptops. All this requires space to save all the data. There is an internal hard drive in the computer that saves all the data. However, with the amount of data increasing and being very large in size, an external hard drive has become a necessity. It is a small piece of enclosure which is slightly bigger than the internal hard drive and can store a lot of data. It has platters on it that are discs which store data. More the number of platters on it more is the amount of data that can be stored on it. The external hard drive can be connected to the computer with a high-speed interface cable. The interfaces used are USB or FireWire.

The advantages of using an external hard drive are as follows:-

1.) Most importantly, it can be used as a backup to store data that can be easily corrupted by viruses that attack the computer despite installing the best anti-virus software and firewalls. It is always advisable to have a back up of all important official data on an external hard drive.

2.) At times, there is very sensitive and confidential information on the computer which should be accessed only by a few select people. Such data need not be stored on the internal hard drive. It can be stored on different external hard drives and each person who is authorised to access that data can be given an external hard drive.

3.) People like to listen to songs or watch movies on their computers or laptops. This data requires a lot of space and can hence be stored on an external drive rather than on the internal hard drive. If you are taking a flight, you can watch your favourite movie or listen to songs of your choice by simply plugging in the external hard drive into your computer.

4.) An external drive comes in handy when you go on vacation trips. If you are carrying a digital camera, you can click innumerable photographs and then transfer them on your computer. You can then save them on your external hard drive rather than let them occupy too much space of the internal hard drive. You can empty the photographs existing in your digital camera and store them in the external hard drive so that you can keep clicking more photographs.

5.) It is a very small device and can be easily carried with you. If you need to transfer some data from one computer to another or save some songs, movies, etc from your friend’s laptop on to your external hard drive and access them later, it can be easily done. Plus, external hard drives do not make noise while processing data while internal home drives do make some noise.

The above advantages are proof enough to understand that an external hard drive is essential and useful for any computer user.

If you are feeling the need to buy an external hard drive to keep a backup of all the important data or to store data that cannot fit in your internal drive, then understand the following do’s and don’ts before selecting one.

• Always buy a branded external hard drive rather than go in for a local one. Local hard drives are cheaper but they could be made with inferior parts and may come without a warranty. When you buy a branded drive, you are assured of its quality and durability.

• Buy an external hard drive that can be connected to a USB port as most computers are fitted with USB ports. However, if speed is a very important factor for you, then go in for an eSATA or FireWire connector.

• Whenever there is lightening storms, always unplug the external hard drive else it could result in overheating and cause damage to the drive.

• Always keep the cords and cables straight that run from the computer to the main electrical point. If they are twisted, the external hard drive could unplug with a little push here and there and fall down and get damaged.

• Do not underestimate your storage requirements. This is generally common. Few years back, people thought having 10 GB of storage was more than enough for a personal desktop. However, now, with people saving songs, movies and loads of photographs on their personal machines, they need larger storage capacity. Go for a 50GB external hard drive for a personal computer and in case you are buying for business purposes, then you can go in for 500GB or more, depending on the scale of your business.

• Do not buy an external hard drive that runs at a speed slower than 5400rpm as they transfer data at a slow speed. The least that one should go in for is 5400rpm and if you need a real faster one, then hard drives operating at 7200rpm are also available.

• Do not plug in the external drive with a wrong power cord. If you do so, it could result in overheating and damage the hard drive.

• Do not keep the external hard drive close to the edges of the computer table else it could accidently fall down and result in damage. These hard drives are very delicate and can easily be damaged. Hence one needs to take proper care while using them.

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

The default action for the Power button on the start menu in Windows Vista is Sleep, which isn’t necessarily useful for everybody. You can configure this setting easily by using the advanced power settings panel, which is a little tricky to get to normally, but we’ll take the shortcut. Open a command prompt (type cmd into the start menu search bar), and then type in the following: powercfg.cpl,1. You could also take the long route (Control Panel Power Options Change Plan Settings Change Advanced Power Settings) Once you get to this dialog, browse down as shown to “Power buttons and lid”

From here, you can change the options:

Power button action - Changes the hardware power button action

Start menu power button - Changes the power button on the Start Menu

You can change the power button to either Sleep, Hibernate or Shut Down, or even nothing for the hardware power button.

2. Hide Desktop Icon Text on Windows Vista

Some icons are just obvious enough that nobody should need text below them to tell them what the icon is for. A good example of this is the icon for Internet Explorer. We’re all really used to it by now, and the text just makes it ugly. Just right-click on the shortcut, and choose Rename. Now hold down the Alt key and type in 255 on the keypad to the right of the keyboard. You can’t use the number keys right above the keyboard, they won’t work. If you have a laptop, you can turn on numlock and then use the little number keys next to the regular letters. (You know you always wondered what they were for)

For the first shortcut on the desktop, a simple Alt+255 will do. For the next shortcut, you’ll have to enter the combination twice (Alt+255, Alt+255). For the third, 3 times… you get the idea. The way this works is that the Alt+255 character is blank, so the shortcut filename is actually just named with a character that is completely blank. Since you can’t have two shortcuts or files named the exact same thing, the second shortcut will have to be named with two blank characters.

Now we have a sweet looking icon on the desktop, with no bothersome text beneath it. If you use this tip to rename a folder, you will not be able to rename the folder back using the right-click rename. I’m not sure why this is. What you’ll have to do is open a command prompt and change directory into the containing folder (For instance, the desktop folder), and run this command: ren “Alt+255” “NewFolderName” You will need to actually type the Alt+255 characters where illustrated in the command. It will appear as a space. Note that the Recycle Bin icon won’t work this way.

3. Enable Hidden BootScreen in Windows Vista

The Windows Vista BootScreen is pointless, but Microsoft decided to hide a more visually appealing boot screen that can easily be enabled with very little trouble. I’m not sure why they didn’t make the boot screen better.

1) Press Win+R, type msconfig and press Enter.

2) If User Account Control prompts you to allow the action, click on Continue.

5) In the dialog that appears, check "Don’t show this message again", and then click on Restart.

6) Your computer will now reboot, and you will see the Aurora boot screen with text that says "Starting Windows Vista".

Note: You may get a Windows Defender error on the next startup. You can enable the system config utility using the tray icon and this error will go away.

4. Fix for COM Surrogate Has Stopped Working Error in Vista

If you’ve been getting the error COM Surrogate has stopped working whenever you browse folders containing Divx avi files, it looks like the latest Divx update to codec version 6.5 fixes the issue, but it also seems to remove the thumbnails. If you want to upgrade, just use the divx update checker to grab the new version. Looks like it’s finally fixed, at least the error message is now gone, although I really wish they would have just gotten the thumbnails working instead.

If you are using Nero, you will need to update to version 7.7.5.1 to fix the problem. I think this is the source of the error for most people.

If you’ve upgraded Nero and Divx and still have the problem, you can try renaming the file C:Program FilesCommon FilesAheadDSFilterNeVideo.ax to NeVideo.ax.bak This will break Nero Showtime, however.

5. Stop an Application from Running at Startup in Windows Vista

Back in the old days, there were a lot of places an application could hook itself to run at startup. You had to check the registry in more than one place, as well as your start menu. With Windows Vista, there’s a built-in panel that handles all that for you. To quickly get to this panel, you can open Control Panel, and then type “startup” into the search box. The link for “Stop a program from running at startup” shows up immediately. You could have also opened Windows Defender and fooled around with the menus until you find the right spot, but this seems quicker to me. Now you can see the Windows Defender screen that lets you manage the startup programs. You can choose to Remove or just Disable any startup item using this panel, as well as lots of other useful information so that you can see what each item is.

6. Emptying Windows Vista Temp Files Directory

Windows Vista Disk Cleanup wizard is really not all that bad, but I did find a small problem with it… It doesn’t fully empty your temp folder. It only allows you to delete temporary files that haven’t been modified in a week. If you’ve recently done a lot of editing or something that generates large temporary files, you may want to manually clean up. Just type in %TEMP% into the start menu search box, and hit enter. You’ll immediate be taken to the temporary files folder, where you can delete whatever you feel like.

7. Disable User Account Control(UAC) For Administrators Only

If you can’t stand the User Account Control prompts, but you’d still like to retain a little bit of security, you can disable it for Administrator accounts only. What we’ll be doing is actually changing Windows Vista to automatically elevate the privilege level for administrators without prompting. The nice thing about doing it this way is that regular users as well as Internet Explorer still run as regular users, and would still use the normal security mechanisms. To configure this setting on Windows Vista Business and Ultimate, you can use the Local Security Policy configuration.

Find the following in the list: “User Account Control: Behavior of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval Mode” and double-click on it.

Change the setting to “Elevate without prompting”. You should be all done.

This is an easier method that you can use to do the same thing from the GUI interface.

Open up Control Panel, and type in user account into the search box.

You’ll see the link for “Turn User Account Control (UAC) on or off”. Click it.

Uncheck the box, and reboot your computer. You should be done with obnoxious prompts!

8. Using Windows Vista System Restore

Windows Vista has a feature called System Restore that automatically backs up registry and system files whenever you install new software or drivers. This feature is useful when you install evil software that makes your computer run really slow. But don’t worry, System Restore won’t remove Windows Vista.

Using System Restore in Windows Vista

There are two places that you can use the system restore feature from. From within Windows, you can just type restore into the Start menu search box, and you’ll immediately see System Restore at the top of the start menu, or you can type rstrui into the search box and hit enter. Your choice. You will immediate see a screen where you can choose to roll back the system to the last restore point. You can select “Recommended restore”, and just click next, or you can choose a different restore point. If you do choose a different restore point, you will see a list of restore points that you can choose from. Click one of them, and you will have to confirm and then restart your computer to roll the system back. If your system won’t boot If you can’t even get into windows, you can boot off the installation dvd, and choose the “Repair your computer” option on the lower left hand side. Click next on the next screen. Now choose System Restore from the System Recovery dialog. It will take a few seconds to come up, and you will see the same screen that you would see in Windows. Click next, and on the next screen select the drive that your copy of Windows Vista is installed on. Click Finish, and Vista will roll back to the previous restore point. Really pretty simple stuff. I absolutely recommend keeping the system restore feature on in Vista !

9. Verify the Integrity of Windows Vista System Files

Windows Vista includes a utility that will scan your system for corrupt, changed or missing system files. Running this from the command prompt is much easier than booting off the dvd into repair mode. To run this utility, you will need to open a command prompt in administrator mode. You can do that by right clicking the Command Prompt in the list and choose "Run as Administrator" Once you have an administrator command prompt open, you can run the utility by using the following syntax: SFC [/SCANNOW] [/VERIFYONLY] [/SCANFILE=] [/VERIFYFILE=] [/OFFWINDIR= /OFFBOOTDIR=] The most useful command is just to scan immediately, which will scan and attempt to repair any files that are changed or corrupted. You can run that command with this command: sfc /scannow

10. Disable Hibernation & delete the Hibernation file

Windows places a file on your hard drive that it uses when your computer goes into hibernation mode. If you do not use hibernation mode, or your computer does not properly support it, you may want to disable hibernation and clear the file off your hard drive to free up some space (the file will use as much space as you have in physical memory, so if you have 1GB of RAM, it’s going to use 1GB of your hard drive space).

Disable Hibernation:

1. Click Start, All Programs, and then right click on "Command Prompt".

2. From the context menu click on "Run as administrator".

3. If User Account Control prompts you to allow the action, click on Continue.

Understanding the world of computer is complicated sometimes. If you’re not a techie person, there are some false ideas that you might believe about computers. These are actually misconceptions regarding your PC. Due to lack of knowledge or old ideas acquired from an individual, it’s quite surprising that there are many myths about your machine.

This article examines some of the most common computer myths, and eventually may help you understand the world of computer better.

Myth 1: To increase the speed and performance of the computer, it needs to upgrade the hardware. It’s true that upgrading the component like the memory will improve your PC, but it’s not always the case. Aside from doing this, consider other factors that cause your machine to slow down. These are unwanted programs, unclean registry and other stuffs inside your computer. So, try first to remove temporary internet files, uninstall unnecessary programs, clean the system registry and defrag your hard drive before spending money for new peripherals.

Myth 2: A faster PC will boost up the Internet. Probably this is true when comparing a 4-year old computer hardware to a recent one. But in most cases, computer is not actually the main problem for poor Internet speed. It really depends on your Internet connection speed. Using a dial-up connection is really slower than having a DSL Internet service.

Myth 3: The constant reason for computer performance failure is a virus. This misconception can be observed on novice PC users. This myth originated from “joke” emails stating that your data from your hard drive will be deleted. And this prank messages have been around since the evolution of Internet. Today, email services on the Internet have virus scanner that checks the file before it can be downloaded. It is also recommended that you get a reliable anti-virus software to protect your machine and also know if a malicious program is the main cause of the problem.

Myth 4: Getting the most expensive, fastest CPU is the best. Yes, getting a faster processor is better. But actually, it really depends on your needs. In reality, it’s usually not cost-effective to get the most costly CPU because having a powerful computer doesn’t only rely on the processor. There are other factors that you need to consider and balance such as type of memory, motherboard and video card.

Myth 5: Installing a good video card is necessary when planning to watch DVD movies or edit photos. Some users are buying expensive video card because they think they need them for their everyday computing activities such as DVD watching and photo editing. But practically speaking, you don’t need it especially if you are just using your PC for common tasks. And if you do gaming, video creation, animation and 3D rendering, buying a graphic card really makes sense.

Myth 6: Don’t leave the computer running. The debate whether it is bad to leave the PC on or not is not a big issue nowadays. Modern computers have power management and energy-saving features that allow you to configure the system to “go to sleep” or “hibernate” mode. Apart from that, a desktop computer comes with exhaust fans so it won’t overheat easily.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Buying a printer is not an easy decision any more. Today, printing technology is very advanced, and there are many different types of printing solutions available. So how do you make a wise investment when buying printers? Here are some factors that you need to consider before making a purchase.

Factor 1: Hardware cost.

Printers are very affordable these days. A 3 in 1 system can save you money as it comes with printing, photocopying and scanning functions. Such solutions are ideal for home (or small) businesses that don't need to print in bulk. These printers can handle the occasional print reasonably well. You can expect such printers to last for a couple of years or so.

If you require heavy duty printing, it makes more sense to go for laser printers. You can't photocopy or scan using laser printers but these printers perform much better. They print faster, are more durable, and the quality is much better compared to an ink jet printer. The only downside is that the printer itself may cost 3 to 4 times as much as an inkjet printer.

Factor 2: Ink cartridges and toners.

This factor is even more important than the first factor mentioned above. The ink that you use is a cost. The more you print, the more you pay. Therefore, you have to be aware of the printing yield of the ink cartridges. Do some research and make a quick calculation. How much does an ink cartridge cost? How many sheets can one cartridge print? Divide the price of the cartridge by the number of sheets it can print to obtain the printing yield.

Toners can cost a lot more, but when you sit down and work out the printing yield, you find that you may save more money in the long term. Also, you find that you don't have to constantly replace the ink (ink cartridges tend to run out faster). Even if you run a small office, a small laser printer may be more economically viable.

Factor 3: Software and networking features.

Today's businesses demand a lot from the printers. Printers can be shared on a network so that many people can use the same machine at the same time. If need to take into consideration the number of people sharing the printer. If too many print jobs are sent at the same time, you may experience a jam. A long wait is inevitable.

Intelligent computer chips inside the printer communicates with the computers. Advanced software will be able to show you important information such as ink levels and printing yields.

Factor 4: Printing quality and reliability.

Nothing is more frustrating than buying a printer and then discover it to be malfunctioning in just a few short months. Replacing a printer is always a hassle. In addition, if the ink cartridges continue to give you problems, you have little choice but to replace the entire printer. Check out consumer reviews before making a purchase.

The main culprits causing poor PC performance are computer viruses, spyware, hard drive clutter, failure to de-fragment the PC hard drive, and lack of regular registry cleaning. Take care of these things and your PC will provide your with years of optimal service.

Computers require more than an occasional dusting and brushing. They need maintenance and care of the operating system and software. A highly recommended way of caring for your computer is to use registry cleaners and/or similar software to optimize Windows performance. These programs methodically scan your registry, reorganize and match all registry files with programs or applications that use the specific files. Good programs also provide the option to repair damaged files and recover lost files.

The great thing about registry cleaners is they keep a record of all the repairs done by the user. Previous registry changes are easily recovered if needed. Cleaners can be customized to scan only the items you select. In this way invalid or wrong registry entries are detected and removed to help optimize Windows performance. Some cleaners also defragment a computer system for you, thereby providing you with a useful, cost-effective measure to maintain optimal performance. Good cleaners eliminate the need for expensive maintenance checks and computer professionals. The best online registry scanners help users optimize their slow performing computers easily and effortlessly.

Some Causes and Solutions For Sluggish Performance

A sluggish computer is never a good thing and is often a sign of worse things ahead. Fortunately you need not worry when your computer starts acting up because there are effective, user-friendly ways of determining the cause. Follow these five simple steps to enhance your PC's performance, reliability, and speed.

Step 1 -- Get Rid of Computer Viruses

Computer viruses are the main culprits for slow PC performance. Many of these unwanted bugs pop up suddenly when you click on certain links or visit certain websites. Viruses definitely affect your PC's speed and can even infect your system without your knowledge.

The solution is simple. Install an antivirus application onto your computer to block viruses from infecting your computer when you connect to the internet. Use your favorite search engine (Google, Yahoo, etc.) to find free antivirus software that you can download and install. These programs will detect computer viruses and remove them and other malicious programs. Always check the option to keep this software updated because a lot of viruses are created daily.

Step 2 -- Rid Your System Of Spyware

Spyware is usually installed on your PC without your personal consent. Even good antivirus programs cannot detect all spyware (also called malware) in your system. You need an antispyware application to detect and remove malicious spyware. Search online for Spybot Search & Destroy and install this antispyware software in your computer system.

Step 3 -- Reduce Hard Drive Clutter – This Also Improves Perfomance

Surfing the net for a long time fills your browser cache with files that dramatically slow down PC performance. This is because Windows stores every website you visit and every image you download in files on your hard drive. This can greatly affect your PC's speed and performance and can be a danger to your Internet security. A good solution I’ve found is Cyberscrub Privacy Suite software. It cleans the cache, deletes duplicate files and enhances my PC's speed and performance.

Step 4 - Defragment Your Hard Drive

Lastly, defragging the hard drive speeds up PC performance. Use the Defrag utility provided with your Windows system and set it to run at a time when you won’t be using your computer as this step is time consuming. Once your hard drive is properly defragmented you’ll enjoy excellent performance once again.

Windows errors are often the reason why a PC underperforms. Registry Mechanic is one of the best programs you can use to thoroughly clean your registry files, duplicate files, and any other files not properly installed on your PC.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Why Restrict USB Drives from accessing your computer ?

We use USB Drives everyday and are grateful for the service they provide, but on the downside, there are three reasons people should restrict or control USB Drive Access into their computers. 1. Virus Traffic 2. Personal Privacy 3. Data Theft

Virus Traffic: There are many people these days that use USB Drives on a daily basis. At work or at home you’ll find many people carrying their USB Drives with many good and bad files. The most draw back to using USB Drives is Virus Traffic. A USB Drive will carry viruses to all accessed computers.

Most Antivirus software today are specialized with internet virus sources and are paying little attention to viruses coming directly from USB Drives. Autorun virus is one of the most types of viruses that might tamper with your computer files and settings coming from a USB Drive and the Antivirus won’t even notice.

Imagine 1000 employees each with a personal USB Drive that carries god knows what type of viruses from home and plugs in his/her USB Drive into a network PC of 1000 users !!! You can prevent this problem from happening ahead of time by using USB Drive Monitor to control USB Drive access to your computers.

Personal Privacy: in todays world even the little brothers and sisters carry USB Drives in their little pockets. If you’re at home and you keep personal notes, pictures, videos, or even working on an important project; you need to have your computer secured.

Otherwise with one little innocent mistake all your data will be gone after your little sibling inserts a USB Drive into your PC. Your private information might be uploaded on the internet as a silly joke.

You can use the USB Drive Monitor to secure your PC from Foreign USB Drives or even lock and unlock your PC by using your configured Personal USB Drive. You can activate a screensaver or generate a sound or custom text alert to intruders. You’ll have full control over your PC.

Data Theft: Its a good practice to use USB Drives at work, but with rules and regulations. Without proper USB Access Control you’ll have your company data and privacy at risk.

Solution One: You can have a master PC that logs USB Drive files by using USB Drive Monitor to identify unique hardware key and user name as well as log USB Drive file content and use this PC as a checking gateway for your company.

Solution Two: You can assign a USB Drive to be officially used inside the company only and restrict all other USB Mass Storage Devices. You can configure this USB Drive by using the USB Drive Monitor and securing the program with a password used by the administrator. The USB Drive monitor can be configured to delete files on unauthorized USB Drives inserted into any computer to make sure no data is lost.

Solution Three: Its the important information that needs to be protected. Your company can assign specified PCs to have confidential and important data and secure then with the USB Drive Monitor. You can have all USB Mass Storage Devices disabled, Sound and Text messages enabled, Task Manager disabled, Screensaver enabled and file deletion on Foreign USB Drives inserted will still be an option.

This way you set the rules and the USB Drive Monitor will enforce them for you.

More reasons……..

Personal Home USB Drive Monitor Usage

Do you ever wonder how your little brother or sister got your funny or embarrassing photos and distributed them to all your family and friends? Do you want that to happen again ? Do you remember when your little brother or sister deleted your most important term paper a day before its due ?

why wait ? get the USB Drive Monitor and keep their USB Drives away from your PC or Laptop by using your USB Drive as a unique access key!!!

How? by bringing up a screensaver and securing your PC once you take out your Personal USB Drive from the computer and disables them once your Personal USB is plugged in again.

This program can be used by parents as a parental control tool to monitor what their kids download on their USB Drives by using the USB Drive Monitor as a computer surveillance software to monitor computer USB Drive activity.

USB Drive Monitor Office PC Usage

You can keep your computer secured and locked when you leave your desk by using the built in USB Drive Monitor Screensaver and activating the Access Key Mode. You can use your configured Personal USB Drive to disable and enable the screensaver or use a personal password. You can also disable the use of all USB Mass Storage devices except for your own Personal USB Drive.

You can simply take out your configured USB Drive and the screensaver will automatically lock your computer, You can disable Task manager or simply disable the use of Mass Storage Devices except your Personal USB Drive, Preventing Data Theft and securing your PC from unauthorized use of USB Mass Storage Devices on your computer. By inserting your USB Drive again you can access your PC and get to work again without inputting a password.

Do you have really important work information stolen from your computer ? you can set the USB Drive Monitor to invisibly log all foreign USB Drives activity from access times in seconds to file name contents as well as foreign USB Drive name and most importantly the Unique Hardware Serial Number of the Foreign USB Drive. This way you can know who and when copied files from your computer.

USB Drive Monitor Large Company PCs Usage

Monitor your employee USB Drive usage activity. The USB Drive Monitor can be a very effective employee monitoring tool. You don’t have to disable all USB ports on your company computers and loose all the great things they offer. You can still use the mouse, keyboard, wireless dongle, bluetooth and all the cool things a USB port offers, Just disable USB Mass Storage Devices.

You can control USB Drives access by configuring a USB Drive for all computers or configure a USB Drive for every employee computer. You can also configure one Company USB Drive to be used by all your subordinates to control information and virus trafficking. Its possible to disable all USB Mass Storage Devices including USB Drives except for one Company USB Drive that will work on all computers in a controlled and secure way.

You can simply allow all USB Drives in your company. If there are any data loss or data theft, you can easily investigate the USB Drive Monitor Log file for data traffic and USB Drive usage on any suspected computer.

You can get a Copy of the Log File that contains the following information: